Chopping and Changing at Carlton Road Academy

For the first time as part of the Freshtime Fun Club, Boston schoolchildren were given a lesson in food preparation thanks to our development chef Luke Pearson.

Year 5 pupils at Carlton Road Academy in Boston spent the afternoon of Tuesday 20th June in awe of Luke, as he demonstrated his advanced slicing and dicing skills during the second session of the 2017 Freshtime Fun Club.

To ensure that all 55 pupils would benefit from the demonstrations, we split the two classes in half; while Luke entertained one half, the other group got their thinking caps on and demonstrated their teamwork in the classroom to complete some fun club activity sheets.

Using the school’s kitchen area, Luke explained several different methods of chopping and preparing fresh produce, including the bridge and claw techniques which are taught as part of the national curriculum.

He explained how to use knives and kitchen utensils correctly and sensibly, and to always do so under supervision.

To round off each session, one lucky member of the group was given some responsibility in the form of a stopwatch; the children were challenged to guess how long it would take chef Luke to slice six mushrooms.

He then switched to a courgette and, with a ‘do not try this at home’ disclaimer, Luke wowed with his impressive skills, which he’s developed throughout his 20-year career.

Guesses ranged from two hours to five seconds and, sure enough, the previous record of 6.7 seconds – set by Luke when he delivered a similar session at Cranwell Primary School – was beaten, with a score of 5.2 seconds.

To really ramp up the excitement, he then declared that he would attempt to chop a courgette – with his eyes closed!

The children were so well behaved you could have heard a pin drop throughout the demonstrations, and all showed enthusiasm when working on their activity sheets.

Although this was the first time we delivered a session of this kind during the fun club, we had positive feedback from the pupils and teachers alike.

We’re looking forward to returning to Carlton Road Academy on Monday 26th June, when our head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Mel Miles will be delivering a vegetable-themed session to Year 4 pupils.